Peer Steinbrück, the Social Democrat candidate running against Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Sept. 22 election, sacked his spokesman Michael Donnermeyer over the weekend in a sign the party is unhappy with its performance in the campaign so far.

Donnermeyer had been criticized for failing to curb Steinbrück's tendency to commit verbal gaffes.  For example, Steinbrück said in a newspaper interview last December that chancellors aren't well enough paid.  Donnermeyer could have prevented that remark from getting published because the newspaper submitted the quotes for approval -- a common practice in the German media.

But he let it go through and it triggered some damaging headlines because it made Steinbrück  look mercenary, which was the last thing he needed after controversy surrounding his sizeable earnings from corporate speaking engagements   -- not exactly the best CV for a candidate claiming to represent the interests of the little man.

Donnermeyer was replaced on Monday by the former chief political correspondent of Germany's best-selling newspaper Bild, Rolf Kleine, in an attempt to breathe life into the flagging campaign less than four months before an election that Merkel is widely tipped to win with ease.